Lyne Taliaferro Barret Letter, May 19, 1867 - Page 1

Sabine Pass May 19th 1867
L T Barret Esq.
Melrose
Dear Sir,
Your favor of April 5th recd this morning, and in answer say, this is the first that I have heard of the note since the war. I am glad to have it now come up, as I am trying to make a close of old matters. In the first place, will state my situation - The claims against me at the North amounted to about $10,000. - Which I paid on Judgts. against me in the Confederate Court, in funds that I recd. for my goods when I had to close out to San Aug. and what I collected -
When the war ended, I found myself, with my little property in a dilapidated condition. My family destitute of Comfortable circumstances and I had $1000.- to start with, besides some amts (sic) due me, Scattered abroad -
After working for about two years and collecting what I could - I proposed to my creditors to give them what I had and could raise in available means by Sacrifice of outside property, etc - it amounted to 50 cts on the face amts of my paper, and securing

Lyne Taliaferro (Tol) Barret, pioneer oilman, was born at Appomattox, Virginia, on November 7, 1832. His family moved to Texas in 1842, first to San Augustine County, and then to the Barret plantation at Melrose. Barret began his career as a clerk and by 1862 had become a partner in the mercantile firm Hardeman Brothers and Barret. He first became interested in the oil industry before the Civil War and contracted with Lucy W. Skillern to lease 279 acres near Oil Springs in 1859, but the war stopped his preparations. From about 1863 to 1865 he served as captain of the Quartermaster Corps, Confederate States of America, for the Nacogdoches district. After the war, Barret, Benjamin P. Hollingsworth, Charles A. Hamilton, John T. Flint, and John B. Earle organized the Melrose Petroleum Oil Company. Drilling began at Oil Springs during the summer of 1866 and resulted in the first producing oil well in the state. Due to the low price of oil and the political unrest caused by Reconstruction, the venture was a financial loss for Barret, who returned to the mercantile business in Melrose. L. T. Barret was a Mason, secretary of the Melrose Methodist Church, and served as justice of the peace in Melrose in 1862 and 1899. He married Angelina Martha Thomas on August 26, 1857, and they had eleven children. Barret died in Melrose on March 23, 1913. (Devereaux, Linda E., "Barret, Lyne Taliaferro" The New Handbook of Texas, 1996)

Scope and Content Note

Correspondence, field notes, deeds, receipts, contracts, and promissory notes of Barret. Includes material on the Angelina River clearance and the Confederacy and Reconstruction, the personal papers of T. Jeff and Amanda Johnson and business records of the Melrose Petroleum Oil Company (1845-1914).

This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is available for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the East Texas Research Center at asketrc@sfasu.edu.

This item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is available for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the East Texas Research Center at asketrc@sfasu.edu.